Escape rooms are usually something you book with friends on a weekend, but a middle school social studies teacher figured out how to put the whole thing on paper. She started making printable versions using reading passages, ciphers, and comprehension questions that teachers could use in class or parents could print for kids at home. What pushed her into it was her husband losing his job of 21 years right after they’d moved into a new home. Suddenly they were trying to cover a new mortgage on her teacher salary alone. She had no design or business background, but she set up her own website and a store on a marketplace where teachers buy classroom resources, charging $10 per game. For a while she was putting 20 to 30 hours a week into it on top of teaching full-time. Sales only trickled in at first because some of her products were too close to what other sellers already had. Once she started adding her own twist of mystery and fun, things picked up, and whenever one product line took off she’d make more in the same style. Within six months she was making five figures a month. She later branched out to other selling platforms and added color-by-number games, scavenger hunts, and virtual tours, plus online courses teaching other people how to make printables. The business has now brought in over $1 million, and she said in 15 years of teaching she never imagined making six figures. note: this is derived from an IBTimes article, the original is here. The summary here is condensed by ai.   submitted by   /u/lionpenguin88   to   r/SideHustleGold [link]   [comments]